A wide variety of vertically positioned or upright towel and napkin dispensers are known from the prior art. A typical dispenser for a stack of towels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,544. A problem with this dispenser is that when a first towel is withdrawn from the dispenser, the subsequent towel may be presented in a manner that makes it difficult to grip as the restricted opening causes the towel to bunch up. A further problem is that the subsequent towel may not be properly withdrawn, requiring the user to feel for the towel underneath the dispenser and possibly to extend his/her fingers into the opening to access the next towel. This is unsatisfactory from a hygienic point of view.
An alternative solution is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,878, where a funnel-shaped guide is provided directly under a stack of towels for guiding and presenting consecutive towels to a user. The guide extends below the dispenser and is shaped to direct a leading edge of a towel to the user. A problem with this arrangement is that the funnel shaped part of the guide causes the stack to sag in the middle and may cause the first towel to wedge and tear. The design of the guide will make it very difficult for the user to reach the next towel, as the guide will be blocked by the first towel. A further problem is that the positioning of the part of the guide means used for presenting the leading edge of the towel is likely to cause the guide to be grabbed by a large number of users. Again, this is unsatisfactory from a hygienic point of view.
In order to solve this problem it may be necessary to allow a leading edge of the towel to extend out of the dispenser. Firstly, this is not desirable from a hygienic point of view. Secondly, a user may be able to grab and pull the leading edge of the towel before the mechanism has started to feed the stack. If the stack is subjected to a pulling force prior to or during the feeding operation, then the operation may be disrupted by the stack tearing in the wrong position or wedging a feeding mechanism, causing the dispenser to malfunction.